Manufacture of spikes



(No Model.)

G. P. GODLBY. Manufacture of Spikes.

No. 241,965. Patented May 24,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. GODLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MANUFACTURE OF SPIKES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,965, dated May 24, 1881.

Application filed December 23, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. GODLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Spikes, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has relation to that class of grooved railroad-spikes wherein the bar from which the spikes are made is formed with grooves in the act of rolling. Heretofore such spikes when made from such bars have been pointed in such manner that the lower or point ends of the grooves remain open or unupset, so that when said spikes are driven into a tie, 860., said open ends of the grooves prevent the latter adding to the spikes any increased resistance to a force exerted to withdraw them hence such spikes are but slightly superior to the common plain spikes.

My invention has for its object to so point such spikes that the lower ends of the grooves in the spikes will be closed or upset, so that when such spikes are driven into a tie, 850., the said lower filled-up portions of the grooves will oppose a strong resistance to any force applied thereto to withdraw or loosen the spikes from or in their socket-bearings. To this end I point the spikes 011 their sides adjoining their grooved side or sides, which has the efl'eet of simultaneously closing or upsetting the lower or point ends of the grooves in said spikes, the latter operation taking place whether the groove or grooves be upon the sides of the spikes or upon their faces and backs. Said spikes so pointed and having the lower ends of the grooves in their sides, &c., upset or closed constitutes the primary feature of my invention. 1

A further object of my invention is to taper or round the width of the point of the spikes, or make the width of said point smaller than that of the body of the spikes, so that when said spikes formed with such points are driven into ties, &c., the reduced width of the points prevents the latter breaking down the wood to such an extent as to hinder the same from so swelling or entering into said spike-grooves.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,A.

represents a grooved spike-bar of the usual or any other suitable configuration. From such bars the blanks for the spikes are cut and are headed and pointed to form spikes B, as shown in Figures 2 or 3, having grooved sides I) b and plain sides I) b.

In pointing such spikes heretofore the point has been formed as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, (the former showing a spike, G, with only one groove, 0, and that in its back c,) that is, onehalf of the point is formed on the back or grooved side, 0, and the other half on the front or side,c opposite said grooved side. If both said sides were grooved as shown in Fig. 5, which is a broken section of the point of a spike so made, then the said point would be formed on the grooved sides, thereby leaving the lower ends of the grooves c 0 open, as shown at d d but when the spikes are pointed on the sides I) b, or those adjoining the grooved sides b b, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3-that is, on their ungrooved sides-the parts corresponding to the open parts d d, Fig. 4, are now closed or upset to form shoulders or abutting ledges d d in the lowest extremities of said grooves b b, as fullyillustrated in Fig. 6, which is a broken section of the point of the spike shown in Fig. 3, the effect of which is, that when such spikes are driven into ties, 8150.,13116 wood thereof swells into said grooves, to hold the spikes more firmly in their places, and which are not then so easily loosened by jarring, strain, 820., and oppose a greater resistance to their withdrawal whereas if the lower ends of the spike-grooves are open, as shown in Figs. and 5, the spikes can be as easily withdrawn orloosened in their bearings as the ordinary plain spikes.

If the grooves b b are formed in the front and back of the spikes, as in Fig. 3, the spikes are pointed on their sides, so as to simu1tancously upset or close the lower ends of said grooves; but if the grooves are in the sides of the spikes, as shown in Fig. 2, the latter are then pointed on their fronts and backs with like results; or, in other words, the spikes are always pointed on the sides adjoining those formed with a groove or grooves. To prevent the point of the spikes cutting or breaking down the wood into which it is driven to such an extent that the same will not swell into the spike-grooves, I taper or round the width 6 of the point of the spikes from just below the closed ends of the grooves to the apex or line a of the same, as shown in Fig. 7, or rounded at said parts, as shown in Fig. 2. The width of the spike-points is thereby made smaller than that of the body of the spikes, so that as the latter enter the ties, &c., their points will not break down or cut the wood thereot'exterior to the base-line 0 0 of the grooves in the spikes to such an extent as they would do it said points were ofa width equal to that of the body of the spikes, as shown in Fig.6; consequently, such parts of the wood will more readily swell or enter and more complctelyfill said grooves, thereby causing the spikes to hold with greater tenacity, and offer an increased resistance to their withdrawal, &c.

With properly shaped and arranged rolls or dies the pointing of the spikes, the closing up of the lower ends of their grooves, and the reduction of the width of their points maybe simultaneously performed, or the two first operations may he so made and the last one successively or separately accomplished.

I am aware that grooved spikes having the lower ends of the grooves closed are not new; but such spikes are made from a plain or angrooved bar and have their grooves punched therein after they are completely fashioned. Such spikes I do not claim; neither do I claim in this application the rolling of the grooves in the bars from which the spikes are to he made; but

What [claim as myinvention is- 1. A grooved railroad-spike made from a bar grooved in the act of rolling the same, having the lower end of its groove or grooves upset and closed and its point formed on the sides adjoining its grooved side or sides, substantially as shown and described.

2. A grooved railroad-spike made from a bar grooved in the act of rolling the same, having the lower ends of its groove or grooves upset or closed, its point formed on the sides adjoining those containing the grooves, and a point of a width less than that of the body of the spikc,substantially as shown and described.

3. The method herein described of making grooved railroad-spikes from a bar grooved in the act of rolling the same-via, upsetting the spike-blank at one end to form the head, and at the other end to fill the grooves there, then tapering the point end on the non-grooved sides, and then reducing the breadth of the point, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of December, A. D. 1880.

GEORGE F. GODLEY.

Witnesses:

J AS. W. FLETCHER, (J. B. ROBERTS. 

